


Zerg Rush?

by amonkeysue



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Playing StarCraft, Pre-Thor (2011)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4207698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amonkeysue/pseuds/amonkeysue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Interning for Jane Foster doesn't mean Darcy has to stop playing classic games in her free time, and even astrophysicists need to learn how to Zerg rush.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zerg Rush?

“Hey Darcy?” Jane called over her shoulder, pausing a second before calling again. “Darcy?”

“I’m busy!” she yelled back, definitely further away than the living room space.

With a sigh, Jane stood from her worktable and went to physically track down Darcy. “You’re my intern. You’re not supposed to be busy when there’s work to do!”

“My workday ended at dinner! Didn’t we talk about this? We totally talked about this.” Darcy’s voice came from her room.

Jane leaned into the doorframe, both of her arms crossed across her chest. For a moment she just watched as Darcy clicked away at something on her laptop while comfortably leaning against the near wall, her laptop resting on her outstretched legs. From the doorway, Jane couldn’t hear any sound coming from Darcy’s free-hanging headphone.

“So what is it you’re doing?” Realizing how she might sound and not wanting to come across as antagonizing, Jane quickly tacked on, “Just out of curiosity. I promise I’m not mad at you or anything.”

“Thanks. At the moment, I’m Zerg rushing.”

Brief moment of silence. 

“What’s Zerg rushing?”

Let no one say that the astrophysicist knew everything.

Darcy clicked once before carefully shifting to the side and patting her bedspread to prompt Jane to come over and sit beside her. She proceeded to unplug her headphones.

As she settled, Jane saw a pause screen, behind which were clearly dated graphics of something that Jane thought resembled spiky (maybe lava filled?) sacs of an ‘alien’ biological something. Several units of what were presumably these aliens were visible around the edges of the screen.

Holding back a smile as Jane’s brow furrowed, Darcy gestured to the screen. “This is StarCraft. To be specific, it’s the original StarCraft, which is a science fiction RTS- that’s real-time strategy- game. You can play as the Terrans, Zerg, or Protoss. Right now I’m the Zerg, and I’m campaigning.”

Gaming had never been something Jane had been actively interested in, but she still nodded her understanding. “Okay. Go ahead and keep on playing, I can learn as you play.”

“Feel free to ask any questions you come up with, if you’re actually interested. If you need to get back to work, and if you need me, I can save it and-.”

Jane cut Darcy off. “No, you’re fine. This game doesn’t exactly look new by any means, and the fact that you took it out with you to Puente Antiguo is some testament to how much you like it,” she explained, “and if you’re interested then I’m a little curious what the appeal of an old game is.” With a smile, she lightly bumped into Darcy’s shoulder. “Plus I have a soft spot for scifi.”

“You’ll probably like this.” 

Focusing back on the screen, Darcy selected the “Return to Game” button on the pause screen and automatically clicked on the lair, explaining what the structure was to Jane as she went about obtaining another Overlord and several Hydralisks. She explained the game mechanics while assembling a large group of Zerglings and Mutalisks.

Some Zerg rushing later, and Darcy handed Jane her laptop to allow her to make a campaign.

Darcy was a more than a little bit of a backseat player. 

(“Jane! Careful, you need to keep Raynor alive!” 

“You need more minerals!”

“The Zerg are coming! Get marines in the bunkers!”)

She also groaned whenever Mengsk talked in the mission briefings.

“Is there something I’m missing out on for why you don’t like Mengsk?” Jane finally asked.

“Keep on playing,” Darcy solemnly replied, “I’ll let you draw your own opinions.”

It wasn’t until several hours later that Jane finally looked at the clock. “Holy cow, you really get pulled into the game.”

“You’re preaching to the choir.” Darcy grinned. “And guess what? There’s the whole Brood War expansion and right now we’ve got StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. The whole college life thing hasn’t exactly been conducive towards me playing it yet, but I figured I’d at least worry about replaying what I have before getting into Wings of Liberty.”

“This is going to be a serious hit to my productivity, but I’m so glad you introduced this franchise to me,” Jane replied with a laugh.

“We’ll work at keeping each other on track.”

\--

For her birthday, Jane got Darcy Wings of Liberty. The response consisted of an excited squeak, hugging, and promptly reaching for her laptop.

They still needed more minerals.


End file.
